They can try to brainwash people in the matrix of what the latest word every candidate said all day every day on our so called news but tens of millions have already awakened to the fact that it is all a big lie, and none of those two party candidates are going to do a damn thing help most Americans now besides tossing them a tiny band-aid for a gaping wound, as they try to make them shut up if they dare to complain about it, and more and more wake up to that fact every single day now!

You can flip a old, dirty, tarnished penny over and over all you want, and it is still not going to do a damn thing for you!

The war has begun. 99% of us have kept our side peaceful so far. We cant say the same for the other side. Just like all those other countries where the people have said enough is enough of the rich ruling us.

Yesterday and today, the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee has hunkered down in the Capitol for markup sessions of SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act. The basic facts looked bleak: this Internet blacklist bill is a disaster that stands at odds with the Constitution, but the deep pockets of its legacy media backers managed to make it enough friends in committee that its quick passage seemed possible. Judiciary Committee Chairman, author of the bill, and “Hollywood’s Favorite Republican” Lamar Smith scheduled just a single hearing, stacked the deck in his bill’s favor, and rushed it through to markup now, at the end of the legislative session.

This morning Bohner said the two months extension makes small business afraid to hire, won’t know what’s next. BALONEY. They’ll hire part-time, temp for 2 months like all businesses have for a long time now. Good try Bohner, pretending to care about the little guy and his employee. Nobody hires perm. & full-time, extension or not, businesses can’t afford to. Pipeline is only job package GOP offers & no guarantee US citizens get them. Infrastructure jobs WOULD go to US workers, are desperately needed, won’t cause another BP type accident we can’t afford to clean up if it happens. . . . . come on!!!! GOP can now change from elephanbt to mule so stubborn & dumb, or snake—such a cheat as Bohner is this morning AFTER the vote was done yesterday, and all heading out . . . . has to be a year (+pipeline +EXPENSIVE DRUG TESTING for Unemployment +1% not be tapped for one cent of tax). GOP by now whenter they “win” anything, even the presidency, they lose. Can’t win, cheating = forfeit.

Gallup, which unlike the BLS, does not fudge, Birth/Die, or seasonally adjust its data, has just released its most recent u(n)employment data. And it’s not pretty: for all those hoping that the Labor Participation Rate fudge that managed to stun the world a few weeks ago with a major drop in the November jobless rate, don’t hold your breath. Gallup which constantly pools 30,000 people on a weekly basis, has found that for the past 4 weeks, both underemployment and unemployment have risen for 4 weeks in a row. And while the number of US workers “working part time and wanting full-time work” one of the traditional short cuts to boosting US jobs has risen to almost a 2 year high, it is the Job Creation Index in December which plunged in the last week, confirming that the Initial Claims data out of the BLS has been spurious and is likely to revert back over 400k on short notice.

I like Robert Reich. I have agreed with much he says for a long time:)

The First Amendment Upside Down. Why We Must Occupy Democracy

You’ve been seeing this across the country … Americans assaulted, clubbed, dragged, pepper-sprayed … Why? For exercising their right to free speech and assembly — protesting the increasing concentration of income, wealth, and political power at the top.

As I read about the funding for heating assistance being cut 25% this year, along with the big increase in demand for it, I can only imagine the screams of outrage from those in Congress if they were forced to endure 25% lower temperatures at their lavish holiday celebrations.

And it is really sad that here in CT people are somewhat happy that it was only cut 25% and not the 50% Obama wanted.

So now CT has to try to cover a $505 million demand with only $97 million.

It would take the entire income from a minimum wage job just to pay for heat in many places now.

I wonder how many were just sentenced to a slow agonizing death of freezing right before Christmas…

Hundreds of people recently lined up outside the county’s Social Service Department office looking for help with heating costs.
Nothing could better illustrate the desperation they feel than the fact that about 500 people were waiting for the office at Main and Mohawk streets to open, with the line snaking past the Hyatt Regency Buffalo. By the end of the day, county officials estimated that between 1,100 and 1,500 people had applied.

Newt Gingrich heckled by Occupy Des Moines protesters; newtgingrich.com apparently hacked
It got so heated that the ex-House Speaker was eventually chased down the stairwell of the state capitol and into his car

As our government and MSM try to make us believe that whether people making $1000 per week get a extra $20 is the most important thing in America now I am thinking about all those that may freeze to death this winter because heating assistance was just cut 25% as demand skyrockets

I am thinking about the 38% increase in homeless children to 1.6 million now, along with all the other “new” homeless former middle class people.

I am thinking about all those unemployed that the BLS stopped counting since 2007, that would put our official unemployment rate at 11% now if they were not forgotten

I am thinking about all those underemployed now that work for peanuts and can’t even afford the basic necessities anymore.

When I heard Obama talk about what $40 dollars means to many people, all I could think is if I was making $1000 a week again $40 every TWO WEEKS wouldn’t mean a damn thing to me, and that more than half of America makes less than 50K so they will never see that $20!

I know all too well that millions of Americans are wondering how they will survive this winter, and that some will not, just like last winter when many died. They will never see that $20 per week tax cut, but many may freeze to death when their heating assistance ends in the middle of the winter, or they didn’t even have a home anymore to get the assistance in the first place.

For any viewers here that may have to survive this winter with no home or no heat I recommend you watch the new video series from my friend Dave Canterbury of the Dual Survival show as he lives in a “yurt” in the cold . It literally could mean life or death for many.

Already American citizens can be detained indefinitely by the military with no due process because of a new law. I know some try to say the clause that says it doesn’t apply to American citizens makes that not true, but many legal minds have already stated that the part that says that clause does not apply to existing law, and the secret interpretation of the patriot act, makes it true

Now we are in a fight of our lives to stop a bill that allows the government to basically be able to shut down any site when they feel like it, and makes all privacy software illegal

Put that together with all the lies we see from the BLS, and DC now, and things look bad.

Notice how the unemployed disappeared from the media, and you rarely even hear about the fact that all tiers of unemployment extensions, that millions survive on now, were part of that two month tax cut deal?

They want to erase all the unemployed, along with Occupy, and anyone else who speaks out now

This has been the worst year of my life, As I sit here alone I am grateful for what I have, So many are on the street and freezing, I am not a “live on the street” kinda guy, I wouldn’t even know where to “go”, when I had to “go”.

So do you just wear the same clothes all the time? Strange that you dont hear of “homeless” people just dying out on the streets, That what I would do Im sure, Because I just couldn’t cope with it.

I like the Denver mayors solution, Just make Homelessness Illegal! Shit ya them criminals can get a job or goto jail! That will fix it!
Works for me, Three hots and a cot is better than nothing and no place.

Well I have a place for now and Im warming up some ramen noodles for my Christmas breakfast, And dreaming of sausage and eggs with homefries.

As I read what many have to say online this Christmas I’m not surprised by how many heartbreaking stories there are out there this year. I’m reading stories from families living in flea bag motels, homeless shelters, and on the street. I ran across many posts from people online at libraries that said they would not be able to check in for Christmas.

I also read about some of those that couldn’t find the strength to get through this Christmas and decided to leave this life…

These are people that used to have jobs, real homes, and real Christmas’s. Not people that “need to take a bath and get a job” like some idiots try to say.

31,800 “homeless” stories just in the past 24 hrs on Google news…

Here is probably the only obituary one in CT will ever get, along with pictures of his last home.

That last story shows the real meaning of Christmas. All the good people out there that step up to help those in need.

As all our elected representatives enjoy their champagne and caviar and forget them.

This part says it all

While Tchouaffe looks for work, she doesn’t understand why the only time she’s ever asked government agencies for help, the only help they’ve offered is to tell her they will split up her family, and send her son to DFCS.

“‘And you sleep in the car,’” she said they told her. “And I say, ‘No, it cannot work that way. I’ve been a very good mother to this boy and to the girls. I don’t want my children to be taken away from me.’”

Thanks to the generosity of 11Alive viewers there is hope. They have food, shelter for the coming month and some money to tide them over until Anna Marie finds a job and can start looking for a home in the Alpharetta area that has handicap accessibility.

And another story on the true meaning of Christmas, and the reality so many live in now.

Readers’ generosity lifts homeless families

Donna Grant sat on the floor on a pile of blankets that her 12-year-old daughter Amber Phillips uses for a bed. A new purple mountain bike leaned against the wall — a gift to Amber from a Free Press reader — and Grant wiped tears from her eyes.

Amber lost her old bike when Grant had to leave it with a motel owner to settle a $120 bill. “Amber was hurt; she was crying,” said Grant, who was profiled in last week’s Free Press series about a spike in student homelessness across Michigan.

More than 15 readers offered to buy Amber a bike.

We handed a stack of Christmas cards to Grant and she sat on the floor opening them, as checks and gift cards tumbled out. Many of the letters were anonymous.

Grant grabbed her chest. “It’s a miracle,” she said, overcome. “I’m very grateful. I’ve never been in this situation where I needed help. I didn’t know there are people who care.”
Total unselfishness

There is one e-mail that sticks in my head. It came from someone who calls himself Rob D. “We don’t have much, but my family and friends want to help buy Amber a Christmas gift,” he wrote. “Could u please tell us how? We’re broke, but we can do something.”

We’re broke, but we can do something.

That might be the greatest statement ever. On this day. At this time of year. It is an act of total unselfishness. Trying to lift up a stranger.

Phone calls from across the country are coming in to the A-Z Outlet pawn shop in Holland on a seemingly continuous basis after word spread of a soldier pawning a Purple Heart medal to help pay for Christmas.

“We took the phone off the hook the first day because we couldn’t keep control of it,” says Bryan Vandenbosch, the owner of the pawn shop.

…The medal is awarded to U.S. soldiers wounded in battle. This one, according to Vandenbosch, was earned in Afghanistan in May 2010.

Vandenbosch says the active duty solider, on leave from Afghanistan, was reluctant to sell the medal at first, but like a lot of people, he needed a little extra cash for the holiday season. So, the soldier gave up one of his two Purple Hearts — something he almost gave his life to get.

Top-Rated Comments

OpenCongress allows anyone to follow legislation in Congress, from bill introduction to floor vote. Learn more about issues you care about and connect with others who share similar views.
OpenCongress was founded by the Participatory Politics Foundation in 2007 and operated as a joint project with the Sunlight Foundation until May 2013.

Founded in 2006, the Sunlight Foundation is a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for open government globally and uses technology to make government more accountable to all. Visit SunlightFoundation.com to learn more.

Like this project and want to discover others like it?

Join the Sunlight Foundation's open government community to learn more.